S4 Spoonful

Thursday Carroll at Heights I watched Carroll practice on Wednesday, and the Eagles look far more under-sized contrasted to last season, when they had Bart Voegeli and Brock Bell at linebacker. The defensive line at Carroll is excellent, but they have question marks at linebacker and in the defensive secondary. Heights, with a big and fast defensive line should harass first-year starting Carroll quarterback Blake Bell with a smaller offensive line. Heights has new running backs, but they're talented. This should be Heights' year to take back the city after faltering last year. Heights by 13. Hutchinson at Rockhurst Hutchinson has not seen a passing game like Rockhurst's. Rockhurst QB Nate Scheelhaase will be outstanding. Hutch will have to control the ball with first-year quarterback Todd Schultz and fullback Josh Smith, who's an absolute stud. If Hutch doesn't turn the ball over, then this game will be close. The Hutch secondary will have to perform like never before. Logan Watkins of Goddard exposed the Hutch secondary several times last fall. Rockhurst by 10. Northwest at Kapaun (Cessna Stadium) Kapaun returns one starter, quarterback Ben VinZant. However, they have tons of talent at running back. Northwest should dominate the line of scrimmage, which always means a win in Kansas. Four starters are back on the Grizzly offensive line. Northwest by 20. Andale at Clearwater Clearwater returns running back Tyler Spencer, who rushed for over 1,000 yards last year. Andale has the tradition, though few returning starters. A blowout win over Clearwater would make a statement that the losses don't matter much. A close win means 4A in the area will be tight this fall. Andale by 13. Buhler at Andover Buhler had this game won last year. Up 21 points with six minutes left, Buhler lost the game. With nine starters returning, if Buhler has solved its turnover problems, they win big. Buhler by 13. Goddard at McPherson Goddard cannot replace their graduated senior class, but a program seems to be in place. The Lions have become a pre-eminent 6A program after being winless in 2004. McPherson, another formerly bad program, has risen to the top under Tom Young. They lost a DI quarterback and tight end. With few returning starters, like Goddard, there are questions. Goddard by 6. Mulvane at Great Bend Great Bend, a stellar program under Bo Black, is down a bit. But Mulvane, of 4A (going up against 5A GBend), is a huge question mark now that KU-commit Huldon Tharp is out for the season. Great Bend by 13. Conway Springs at Cheney This is more interesting game than you think. Cheney returns eight starters (in 4A, that's usually two-way) and QB Tanner Hageman returns from injury. Conway Springs has been hyped, now it's time to back it up. A loss here for Conway means they're not ready for state, as I predicted them to be in pre-season. Conway by 6. Trinity Academy at Bluestem Wow, 67-game losing streak against first sanctioned 11-man game! Are you kidding me? Kollen Long profiled both coaches in our September issue. (Have fun with this one, Bob Lutz.) Bluestem by 6.